(Risa POV)
Even though I was in my slime form, where I didn't actually have eyes, I still felt my eyes gleam at the realization of what Big Bro Rimuru was telling me. "Wait, Big Bro, you're saying that Milim and I can do whatever we want with Dhistav?! Anything at all?!"
"ACK!" Rimuru's slime form cringed as he realized what he'd just given me. Now that I'd created the White Force, the base there would… eventually… go on to become my own private, perfect little research outpost, with all the staff I could possibly need. Ramiris had even moved in, giving us access to the perfect testing area that was her labyrinth.
It was basically my Garden of Eden or something… once we got it up and running. But even so, I was always on the lookout for places where I could find or make something new.
A gigantic swamp with multiple giant ruined technological marvels underneath it, in desperate need of massive overhaul?
And even better, this was a project that I had to work with Milim on. It was so perfect that I felt a sudden urge to cry. I didn't have tear ducts in this form, though.
"Yeah… Whatever you want, just make sure you get Milim… and Frey's permissions before you do anything."
"Uh-huh! …Wait, Frey's too!?" That made things a bit more difficult.
"That's not a problem, right? You weren't planning to just go alone with Milim and do something outrageous, right?"
"Uhhhh…." Frey would probably consider anything I left in Dhistav a 'gift' for Milim. That meant that she wouldn't let me completely overhaul the entire country from bottom up and replace its existing infrastructure with my own stuff. "...Okaay, Big Bro. I'll get Frey's permission…"
How to brainwash Frey without using skills… What bribes would work to make her turn her head the other way…?
Shoving that line of thinking to the back of my Parallel Processing, I continued with my reports.
Things worth mentioning… The whole 'extending Aether to Milim, but not being able to use her skill' thing was more of a personal thing, so that could be left out… Which meant that the natural next point was probably New Farminus, right?
I started explaining the situation over there.
The old era nobles from original Farmus, with the exception of Marquis Muller, who apparently had gotten his mental acuity from his roots as someone related directly to that wily old Blummund royal family, were by and large…
Rather disappointing. Borderline useless. Basically, four people, including Muller, were running the country by themselves.
And three of those four were children.
Now, the four that Big Bro and I had been generous enough to 'spare' from the massacre at Tempest, the former king Edmaris, his former Archbishop, Reyheim, and the two newly-minted Dirt Golems, Razen and Folgen, each had their uses, sort-of, but even that was rather limited.
Razen and Folgen were in charge of training the kingdom's new army, but only under the direct supervision of Yohm, the true commander, who was stronger than either of them with that crazy computerized Dragonbuster Sword that I'd once made for him using that Fire Dragon's magical core as the catalyst. Apparently, Folgen had an interesting Unique Skill that allowed him to subtly influence the minds of the people under his command, while Razen had one of the broadest minds for magic (outside of Tempest) in the west.
Meanwhile, Edmaris and Reyheim were in charge of teaching the new government what they needed to know to keep governing, but they'd quickly hit a wall there.
Specifically, the current king, Edward, listened to his father a bit too much. He was way smarter than his father, too, and knew just about everything that he needed to, despite his young age.
A real prodigy… who became almost totally useless when he started listening to his dad's advice. It wasn't that Edmaris was incompetent, he just wasn't nearly flexible enough to keep up with all of the changes, and a lot of his contacts had been killed in the purge, too (for good reason).
All young Edgar really needed was confidence in himself. His closest aides, Luka, and the Superior Water Spirit living inside of him, whom Risa had granted the name 'Aquis', were working on that now.
And as for Reyheim, the Church's former highest order of representative, his problem was the exact opposite of Edmaris's. The new emissary, Flora, was host to a Superior Wind Spirit named Aeris, and while she was a staunch believer in Luminism, who'd been raised by the Church since she was just a baby, she simply didn't trust Reyheim or any of his contacts. Not after he'd screwed his entire country over by giving them the resources needed to feel confident attacking Tempest.
She had an interesting way of looking at some of the Church's ideals. Basically, she believed that humans should do whatever they can to prosper within themselves, so that they never had to submit. She also believed that there were two qualities that made a monster. A 'monstrous soul' and a 'monstrous body'. She believed that only those with a monstrous soul should be targeted as enemies, and that those with monstrous bodies should simply be treated according to their actions.
As such, she wanted New Farminus to become, like the Church, a bastion for all of humanity, but without pushing away all others.
It was a desire that she wasn't entirely certain that the Western Holy Church agreed with, but it was all based completely on her devotion to Luminous, her god, or at least the Goddess's ideals that she'd been raised on.
As such, she and Reyheim constantly argued about what she should do, as the country's highest representative of the Church. In response, she always just said that she was a representative of the Goddess, Luminous, not a representative of the Church itself.
Luckily, the Church had recently called Reyheim away for some sort of debriefing.